Reid Downplays Chances for Assault Gun Ban, Filibuster Changes

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told a Nevada television station Friday that the Senate is unlikely to pass an assault weapons ban or a radical revamp of filibuster rules.

In the interview that aired on Vegas PBS this weekend, Reid, a gun rights supporter, struck a pragmatic tone on gun control measures.

“Let’s be realistic. In the Senate, we’re going to do what we think can get through the House. And I’m not going to be going through a bunch of these gyrations just to say we’ve done something because if we’re really legislators, the purpose of it is to pass legislation,” Reid said.

He said he wants to see what President Barack Obama wants to do by administrative means. Reid also expressed reservations about legislation to outlaw assault weapons, a measure that he has long opposed.

1. Still hasn't found his backbone yet

3. Reid is a smart politician.

He won't waste political capital on an issue that he knows won't go anywhere. He was also there for the repuke takeover of the senate in 94 due in part of the AWB and he doesn't want a possible repeat of that.

6. You need to quit using that meme about

the 1994 take over. That's another one of the bull shit gunner talking points.
Dems didn't bother to vote and Hilary tried to reform health care.
I get so fucking tired of reading your same fucking talking points over and over.
We will have a new AWB this year.

7. Tell it to Bill Clinton.

He said so in his book that part of the reason for the repuke takeover was because of the AWB.
Don't argue with me, argue with him, he was there, he should know.
I wouldn't count on an AWB making it through the congress, like I said, Reid is a smart politician who knows the ins and outs of DC.

13. What's this got to do with my comment?

I happen to agree with him about hi cap mags. I would be happy with 10 round mags., I would also be happy with universal background checks, better funding for states to improve the NICS system, more funding for mental health care.
These proposals, I think, would have no problem getting throught the congress and to the Pres. desk for a signature.

16. It is self serving gunner bull shit. I hate it more that any other thing I read on this board.

You talk like gun control made the election what it was. I was there too. It was the contract on America, health care reform, the fact that Democrats didn't bother to vote and gun control.

Stop lying like your pet issue is all that fucking important. To you maybe but it is one of many.

People are tired of that gunner rhetoric. Today marks 1 month since the murders in CT. The parents have formed a group and you re not going to shut them down with your talking points like all the other killings. They are not going to let it happen.

4. So will gun control benefit Ds or Rs ?

The absolute question that needs answered is will a push for gun control hurt Democrats in the next election including Sen Reid and others who push it? How much political capital will it take from climate change and protecting entitlements? I don't hear anything on this aspect.

Gun rights is somewhat like abortion rights except the passion is much greater. Many Americans that have a heritage of many generations view gun rights as fundamental to America. As with all rights in rural and middle America, it is fundamental to a culture. NYC is neither middle America nor fundamental to America. Many in the USA that voted for Obama are apolitical as in being Is, Ds and Rs. They wanted change. Many voted for Obama hoping to see prosecution of thieving NYC bankers and the corporate CEOs who outsourced jobs and stole from society.

USA politics needs changed so it benefits average Americans instead of only elites with their viewpoints and profits and access to firearms.

Progressive, Populist, Libertarian for the rights of people, not corporations

29. Gun control will sap the Democractic Party and prevent major things from getting done

I could be wrong and so could Harry Reid, but we are more likely to be right.

Politics and life are about making priorities. Gun control is being pushed by urbanites who want it as their pet priority, and in the process it will inevitably sap the power of the Democratic Party from fixing the important things that need fixed and that affect millions. Things like climate change, making Wall St and business honest, protecting the food supply, prosecuting bankers (that unfortunately will never happen), staying out of wars in the Middle East, ensuring that wealthy bankers don't capture our pensions and Social Security.

The wealthy are behind the attempt to establish gun rights for the masses so as to deflect the attention from the elite and rich who already own all the security (private and public) they need. This issue will make all other political battles look like child's play. It will consume Congress and the American people and only make the divide worse and it isn't just L vs R. It is much more.

If only the media and the elite were as concerned about our false wars that have killed and destroyed the lives of many thousands more of young Americans as these mass killings that have have served as the catalyst just as 9-11 served as the catalyst for the Patriot Act.

Harry Reid understands that politics is not about chewing gum and walking. Political capital is expended on one or the other. Pushing gun control will sap the political lifeblood out of the Democratic Party while assuring nothing gets done in Congress on issues that affect millions. There is a very good chance that attempts for strict gun control will reverse the momentum of the Democratic Party, that has been in the Party's favor. It will consume the oxygen, just like the wars in the Middle East that have cost us dearly but have provided nothing of benefit for America.

5. Hopefully the President can save us

9. Which is what Reid wants him to do.

Despite what some here claim, the AWB has hurt the party in the past. If Obama attempts it through executive action and rule making, the legislators do not have to take a stand that will hurt them in the polls next time around.

10. It is ironic Reid wants to see what President Obama does by administrative means.

Reid placed a section (2716, part c) into the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which protects 2nd amendment rights and prevents the President from using Executive orders on many items relating to the amendment.

26. Tyranny of the minority.

It sounds like Reid is supporting a filibuster 'reform' that would still allow the Repuglicans to block virtually any bill with 41 votes.

If that turns out to be the case, well, yeah ... Reid will go down in history as one of the worst majority leaders in U.S. history -- and he should.

As pointed out, Democrats have had a working majority of 50+1 for eight years ... and because Reid cannot stand-up for the basic American democratic principle of majority rule, he has little to show for it.

If after January 22, we still have a Repuglican 'tyranny of the minority' in the U.S. Senate, then basically I give up ... it is pointless to elect a Democratic majority in the Senate. (And you can bet if the Repuglicans had managed to get a 51 vote majority they would have changed the filibuster rule lickety-split!)

17. Of course. Why do anything. It's so fucking frustrating.

20. More lies they told to get us to the polls

I think most of us new they would collapse when it came time to govern. If they changed the filibuster rules, the excuses for passing only right-wing laws would be gone. This way the president has cover for his right-of-Reagan agenda.

23. Reid has always been pro-gun. He at least is honest in that regard. nt

25. He's always opposed an AWB.

I don't think he'll allow an AWB to come up for a vote, he remembers what happened in 94 when the repukes wrested control of the congress due in part to the AWB as told by Pres. Clinton in his book, My Life.